ASIO were on the ball with Brigitte: Howard

Prime Minister John Howard today defended the nation's security service, rejecting suggestions it failed to act speedily and effectively when warned about the risk posed by terror suspect Willie Brigitte.

Mr Howard said he accepted the explanation of Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) head Dennis Richardson, who told a parliamentary committee last year the initial communication from the French intelligence service did not express any urgency.

"The important thing is that Brigitte has been returned to France. he is now under interrogation," he told the Nine Network.

Brigitte, who had trained with a terror group in Pakistan, arrived in Australia in May last year on a tourist visa. He lived and worked in the western suburbs of Sydney for five months and even married an Australian woman.

Both the government and ASIO now believe he was involved in planning a terrorist attack in Australia. He was arrested in October and deported to France, where he remains in custody.

ASIO came under fire yesterday over revelations that France's first communication to ASIO last September produced no response, while a second warning was not acted on for three days because it arrived at the start of the October long weekend.

Labor yesterday accused the government of covering up a "monumental stuff-up" over its response to the French warnings.

Mr Howard said he was satisfied that the first communication from the French intelligence service DST was not delivered to Australian authorities until September 22, although it was dated September 19.

"In relation to the communication at the beginning of the October weekend, I am told that communications of that kind, which carry a degree of urgency, it is normal practice for the liaison officer of ASIO in the relevant partner capital - in this case Paris or indeed if that person wasn't available ASIO itself - to be personally contacted and attention is drawn to the urgency of the communication," he said.

Mr Howard said there was a steady flow of paper between intelligence agencies, some urgent, some not.

"It is normal, so I am told, that in a case like this that you would not only send a telex but you would ring up the liaison bloke and say 'look this has a particular urgency, you better have a look at it'," he said.

Mr Howard said ASIO had been staffed around the clock for some time.

"I am myself very satisfied with the professionalism of ASIO," he said.

"We have massively increased their resources and we have established an additional intelligence unit inside the government.

"Overall their resources are very good and I think they do an excellent job."